Far from it. Jeff Karam and his coaching staff run a class act. They can hardly be blamed for failing to refuse entry to wrestlers who are attracted from all around District 11 and beyond. Recruiting is done, but by the athletes themselves. That is not prohibited by the PIAA.

None of that is any different from what went on at public schools Easton, Northampton and even Nazareth during their state-championship runs over the last 14 years. So let's make that clear.

Furthermore, the only time you read about Becahi's wrestlers are when they wrestle. They're well-behaved kids who don't wind up in other sections of this newspaper for the wrong reasons.

That said, athletes in all sports still are allowed to move around as de facto free agents much too easily by PIAA regulations that are not strong enough to prevent it.

Bethlehem Catholic is on top now. Just like Northampton was in 2000, Easton was from 2001-04 and Nazareth was in '07. All of those programs featured athletes who started (and in some cases finished) in other districts. The dynamic wasn't much different then.

So that's the point.

Stop with the outrage over Bethlehem Catholic and start with some sensible solutions -- throwing the Golden Hawks out of the LVC definitely is not one of them -- that most people involved in this can accept, knowing that there is no way to make things totally fair, much less satisfy 100 percent of the public.

I agree with Nick Fierro comments compeltely. Jeff Karam and his coaching staff run a class act. They can hardly be blamed for failing to refuse entry to wrestlers who are attracted from all around District 11 and beyond. Recruiting is done, but by the athletes themselves. That is not prohibited by the PIAA. It is like the success of the Parkland track program or Emmaus swimming. It certainly reflects the domination of the Easton, Nazareth and Northampton wrestling programs of the past. People, especially kids go with a winning program. The wrestling program has been strong in the past and when they where the doormat a few years ago that seemed to be okay. Jealous over success is not a reason to condemn the school , coaches and the KIDS

Posted By: Maury Molin | Feb 10, 2014 5:55:26 PM

In public schools you must live within the districts boundaries. Catholic schools have no
boundaries. Maybe if they created boundary lines
it would solve the problem.

Posted By: doug owens | Feb 10, 2014 6:33:23 PM

The issue is that private schools are not required to play by the same set of rules as a public school. A private school's enrollment is not restricted by a population contained within a defined geographic boundary as is the enrollment of a public school. In addition to that obvious difference, BECA chooses to remain a AA school and compete against the small enrollment schools in PIAA competition while their program claims to seek the best competition for their wrestlers. The program is winning lots of trophies and also getting the respect it deserves.

Posted By: Scott Santee | Feb 10, 2014 9:26:27 PM

As a D3 fan I am glad that Quarryville and Kennard-Dale are not within driving distance of Becahi. The BC wrestlers may have tried to recruit them.

Posted By: Ken Adams | Feb 11, 2014 1:23:23 AM

Them represents Chance and Thomas

Posted By: Ken Adams | Feb 11, 2014 1:31:43 AM

public schools have district boundary lines
while catholic schools do not.
why not create some for them to make a level
playing field for all?

Posted By: doug owens | Feb 11, 2014 6:06:52 AM

I know I'm getting older and sometimes don't remember everything that took place during my 43 years at TMC, but I seem to recall that in one of those past East Penn Conference squabbles, they made a stipulation that all schools in the conference had to compete in the state's highest level in each sport. I'm not positive, but maybe that changed when the PIAA went to a 4A classification. Give me some of those good ol' days, when a tiny school like Catasauqua, with Larry Miller, of course, played in the Class A basketball tournament. "Hoosiers", but PA style.

Posted By: Paul Reinhard | Feb 11, 2014 9:23:36 AM

You want desiginated boundaries for the private schools...why? The supposed boundaries for the public schools are a joke. There are ways around boundaries as the easton's, northampton's and nazareth wrestling programs have shown in the past. Or better yet when Liberty football lands a stud player from NJ who some how found an address in the bethlehem school district...because he supposedly wanted "block scheduling" not offered at his NJ school. (good excuse) Just happened to be during the run of state playoff appearances by Liberty. How come we forget to mention all the athletes that left Beca over the years when their programs were down and helped liberty and freedom to some very successful seasons?? No one cried about "recruting" when the beca programs were down and not winning. Also you schools who go out and look to compete against top notch wrestling and or other programs (ie Easton) what is the difference between wresting beca or some other top in state or out of state program you always seem to have on your schedule? It all goes in cycles...so stop complaining!

Posted By: Tyboy | Feb 11, 2014 9:35:53 AM

I a curious as to why nobody every brings up the idea of going a parochial A and parochial B State Championship system like NJ. This equals the playing field in Nj and allows public school to have a fair chance at a state championship, while allowing private schools to win championships without feeling guilty or always being accused of "cheating".
I'll go one better, why not have a Lehigh Valley Private School League. I volunteer to be commisioner.
ND Green Pond, Marian Catholic, ND East Stroudsburg, Moravian Academy, Pius X, Allentown Central, Bethlehem Catholic, Berks Catholic... Again, the private schools could go about attempting to give their students a gulit free competition environment and the public schools could put their paranoia to bed and just compete.

Posted By: Kevin Foley | Feb 11, 2014 10:31:52 AM

@ Kevin Foley, your comments are spot on

Posted By: Alfundo | Feb 11, 2014 11:57:15 AM

@Scott Santee

News flash...the new "LVC" or whatever they plan on calling the new league is going to take the option of Beca moving to 3A out of their hands....new by-laws won't allow Beca to move up to 3A in wrestling or they will be expelled from the league...seems the 3A schools don't want the competition....just the opposite of what you profess...and if you don't believe the AD's running the new league are capable of doing such a thing just take a look at the current by-laws of the LVC....Beca and Central have to play at least at a 3A level in football or they will expelled from the LVC....sweet guys that set up the LVC...but hey..."its all about the kids"...at least that's what the grown men and women of the LVC would like you to think....

The only way to be fair is to address transfers across the board. Athletes do leave catholic schools also and go to public schools, KJ Williams and Tyler Kohl are 2 names that pop up right away. Just last week MCALL had an article on the Bross sisters, who were "deep reserves" on CCHS girls team and they transferred to Parkland. Where is the uproar? Either have a policy or dont, but whatever you do have one policy for all schools.

Posted By: SM44 | Feb 12, 2014 9:25:43 AM

private vs public in regards to sports--it is impossible not to have controversy when you have one championship with different teams having different rules.this problem will never be solved - name a league in the country who has different rules for different teams and one champion- if you can find one then they will have problems too. the only solution--separate leagues and state champions. catty had a good football team and then had to play that all star team from philly. charter school kids from all over philly. the catty QB had it right when he questioned the piaa-how can they let this happen. the kid was right.

Posted By: joe yudt | Feb 12, 2014 7:04:26 PM

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Morning Call Sports Reporters Stephen Miller and Tom Housenick blog about high school and college sports action on and off the field in and around the Lehigh Valley, only at themorningcall.com.

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TOM HOUSENICK watches every move Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum makes on the court, laughs at every joke by Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon and watches all the Divisions II and III coaches and players do it for the love of the game. Basketball makes the cold weather season go by fast. Already can’t wait for late February and early March when each possession could result in a season ending or continuing on.

Wrapping up his ninth year at The Morning Call, STEPHEN MILLER is back for year No. 4 on the LVC football beat. He chronicled Central Catholic's state-championship run in 2010, watched Nazareth win its first LVC title in 2011 and saw the league crown tri-champions for the first time in 2012. He has also covered the Phillies, college football and a variety of prep sports while with The Morning Call. To stay updated on the 2013 LVC football season, check out the Varsity blog and follow him on Twitter @mcall_smiller.